


Move Toward the Darkness

by summertimesoldier



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Backstage Theater AU, I actually do theater, M/M, Theater AU, but really, so I'm going to be painfully accurate with this and have a Great Time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2020-09-28 23:36:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20434355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summertimesoldier/pseuds/summertimesoldier
Summary: “So who’s the set designer, then?”, Bucky asks, setting down his coffee.Natasha and Bruce exchange a look. It’s Natasha who speaks. “It’s that freshman, Steve Rogers. I know we don’t usually hire freshman for this big of a role but this kid has a fair amount of experience and a lot of good ideas and wow you’ve already stopped listening to me.”Bucky has his head in his hands. “A freshman. Are you kidding me? A goddamn freshman.”“So will you do the show?”“What do you think?”





	1. Excited and Scared

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Move Toward The Darkness" from The Addams Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from "I Know Things Now" from Into the Woods

Bucky doesn’t know what he expected when he sat down with Bruce and Natasha at Starbucks. He couldn’t expect  _ not  _ to work on the show. He would die for Natasha and Bruce is basically the only director on campus who actually deals with original ideas. The fact that this is the first project they’re doing together is actually kind of shocking considering how close of friends they are, but Bucky’s not complaining. 

Somehow they manage to go through most of the interview without discussing the designer. They talk about Bucky’s experience as a technical director, and how he has been able to transfer his skills from his mechanical engineering degree to the world of building sets for theater. 

You’d never know how much theater Bucky watched, and how much more he helped make, just by looking at him. He seems like your typical, hypermasculine, not too concerned with personal hygiene engineering student. But Bucky’s always known he was queer, since he was 11 or 12. He didn’t really let that change anything, just came out to the people who mattered and moved on. He was lucky he was able to do that and was even luckier that freshman year he was able to find his niche building sets for student theater productions. 

Since then, he’s gone from semi-skilled labor just here to hang out to being the most in-demand technical director on campus (not that there’s many of them). Recently, he’s been able to pick which projects he wants to be part of whether he’s picking for the people, like this one, the show, or some particularly exciting challenge with the set. 

“So who’s the set designer, then?”, Bucky asks, setting down his coffee. 

Natasha and Bruce exchange a look. It’s Natasha who speaks. “It’s that freshman, Steve Rogers. I know we don’t usually hire freshman for this big of a role but this kid has a fair amount of experience and a lot of good ideas and wow you’ve already stopped listening to me.”

Bucky has his head in his hands. “A freshman. Are you kidding me? A goddamn freshman.”

“So will you do the show?”

“What do you think?”

“Great!”, Bruce says cheerily. “I’ll see you on Saturday for the first production meeting!”

Natasha and Bruce wisely make a swift exit while Bucky ponders the different things he might do to get this Rogers kid fired and replaced by someone who will actually know enough about how things work to not make his life a living hell. 

~~~

Steve is buzzing when he comes back to his room. “Clint!,” he yells as he throws the door open to their shared room. “You will not believe my news!”

Clint, inexplicably asleep at 2pm on a Tuesday groggily wipes his eyes. “Steve?”

“Clint, why are you asleep?”

“Well, I stayed up until 6 working on my p-set so it was either this or sleeping during class. Why are you… you’re practically bouncing up and down dude.”

“Clint, I got the show! I can’t believe it! They basically told me in my interview that they don’t hire freshmen for this position but the director seemed really excited when I showed him some of my portfolio and Natasha didn’t seem to completely hate me which is apparently how you know she respects you and then Bruce called again today to talk about my creative process again and then I just got the email when I was in class and I got the job!”

“I need you to know that I followed about half of that, but I’m happy for you, little guy.”

“Clint, you don’t get it,” Steve said, sitting down on his bed and making him groan. “This is going to change everything for me.”

Steve had known he wanted to be a professional set designer since he saw his first Broadway show at age 13.  _ Rocky _ wasn’t a good show, Steve knew that now, but the set design was magical to him. All of the different locations, and the level of detail. It was begging for you to notice it but it was done so well it all seemed to fade into the back of your mind, well until the literal boxing ring came out in front of the stage, but that was the kind of excessiveness Steve loved but never had the chance to play with — until now. 

This show was going to be his chance to prove to himself that this was the thing he should be doing. His mom had convinced him that he should get a degree in architecture, but he knew the thing he really wanted to do was theater. Sure he was loving his classes, but he could never see a future for himself where he wasn’t making something bigger than just a building, bigger than just the thing he was making. He needed to be making art and somehow he mad managed to convince the most experienced director/production manager team on campus that he was able to do all the things he had always wanted to. Now he just had to convince himself. 

What if he’s not ready? They had all talked about the schedule but what if he was already behind. He dug through his bag, looking for the notes he had made. Fuck. He needed a preliminary groundplan by the production meeting on Saturday and he’d barely read the show. Well, he’d read it twice to prep for the interview, but now he needed to read it to design the damn thing. 

Holy shit. This was really happening. He had to call his mom.


	2. Chapter 2: It’s Gonna Be Good

After reading the script, Steve had three good ideas for directions to go with his design for the show. Well, he had two good ideas and one that was probably too ridiculous for Bruce to like. 

He was probably overprepared for what was theoretically a preliminary meeting between him and Bruce. He knew they were on the same page from the interview and Bruce’s responses to the couple of images he had texted him, just to make sure he was still on the right path. But having a complete mood board and rough groundplan for each concept was definitely more than he needed to do. 

But he knew that it was a big deal that he got this gig as a freshman, so he needed to prove that they didn’t make a mistake. 

Steve can tell that Bruce is a bit overwhelmed by the powerpoints he’s throwing at him at their meeting on Tuesday. 

“You did all this in three days?”

“Yeah, I uhh… had a lot of ideas?”

“These are great, Steve. I actually wonder if we could try and incorporate the columns from this version into this version over here?”

Steve is already drawing, his pencil etching out confident lines on the page. 

“Oh, yeah! And that way, it will bring the audience into the world instead of just being a set in front of them.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for. I think, to help achieve that, we could also try this…”

Steve and Bruce go back and forth for an hour longer than they had planned. By the end of the meeting, Steve has a decently confident groundplan, and they are most definitely speaking the same language. He understands what Bruce is trying to say with the play, and he’s ready to see how things change as everything starts to come together. 

Steve is packing up his things when Bruce puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“Just so you’re ready — not all of this is probably going to be feasible. Bucky’s a great TD, but he prefers to do everything well, rather than scramble to get things done in time. I think we’ve made something incredible here, but we’re going to have to be ready to be realistic here.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Bruce gives him a sad look. 

“I may not have a lot of experience, but I have worked with a TD before.”

“It’s not that I don’t think you can adapt and adjust, Steve. It’s just that Bucky can be pretty ruthless. Last time I worked with him, my set designer walked out of our first production meeting in tears. Bucky’s good at his job, but he doesn’t try to be kind to the art. He may be a little too harsh and realistic sometimes, but you have to know it’s because he wants to create the very best thing he can.”

“If he’s so mean, why do you all work with him?”

“Bucky’s not mean, Steve. He just cares a lot about the show and nearly always cares more about the show than about any designer’s feelings.”

“That still doesn’t seem —”, Steve bit back his words. He still had to be making a good impression. No matter how well he and Bruce were getting along, Bruce had known Bucky longer and it wouldn’t do well to be calling that relationship into question right before he jumped in the middle of it for real. 

“We’ll see how it goes on Saturday, then!”

Steve fights back a grimace. It sounds too fake, he’s sure. 

“Yeah, I’ll see you then,” Bruce says and then he’s gone. 

Fuck. Saturday was going to be rough. He’d never had a warning about a TD before, much less one from a director. He was going to have to be ready. Once he got home he’d digitize the plans he and Bruce had drawn up and send them over. He and Bucky were both going to need all week to prepare. 

~~~

This kid had to be crazy. A complete painted deck, columns around the theater, not to mention the actual platforms and walls needed for the main portion. What kind of operation did he think Bucky was running?

They had to have the set built in six weeks. By students. On weekends. There was no time for all of this. And that’s before he even factored in painting everything. So much of the set wasn’t even unskilled painting, like bases and spattering. Bucky was sure it’d need some actual technique and that  _ really _ wasn’t his forte. 

They’d have to get a scenic charge and where were they going to find someone bonkers enough to try and get this set painted that quickly?

At least the kid knew enough to send the groundplan ahead of the meeting. Last time he TD’d for one of Bruce’s set designers, she hadn’t thought that he might need to see the plans beforehand. Not only did he have to start planning and budgeting, but he needed to be able to curse out the designer where they couldn’t hear him. He’d barely been able to hold it in, stopped only by the tears he’d seen welling in her eyes as he explained to her all the reasons he couldn’t literally fly a person on a lineset for dramatic effect. She’d eventually flourished, once she understood the constraints they were under, and Bucky was still proud of the flying effect they’d achieved with the wings hung and moved from multiple linesets. 

This kid didn’t have anything so ridiculous, but there was just  _ so much _ . This meeting was going to be rough and Bucky was going to have to be ready. 

He opened up AutoCad and plugged in his mouse. He had to be ready. He was going to crush this kid’s dreams and he wasn’t going to like it one bit. Okay, he might like it but that was just because he wasn’t in the mood for some cocky freshman designer to try and walk all over him. 

Could someone please remind him why he did theater in the first place?

This was going to be rough, but it was necessary, he kept reminding himself. The show has to come first.


	3. Chapter 3: What is This Feeling?

Steve was lucky he was taking classes in the theater building. The email from Natasha with the details for the production meeting gave no details as to where “the design room” was, much less a room number. He was so grateful not to be the poor unsuspecting freshman who walked in halfway through introductions. No, he was 5 minutes early and already working with Sam, their stage manager to get his computer hooked up to the projector. 

As people got settled Steve tried to guess which one Bucky was. No one seemed to be named “Bucky”, but there were a bunch of upperclassmen he didn’t know the faces of yet, only the reputation.

All of the upperclassmen were joking around, catching up with each other’s breaks, but when Natasha cleared her throat at exactly 7pm the room fell silent. That was a kind of power Steve didn’t know a production manager could wield, but he was entirely unsurprised to watch it happen. He shifted anxiously in his seat as he waited for the meeting to begin. 

“Okay, everyone. This is our first meeting with the full team so we’re going to do rapid-fire introductions. We’ll go around the circle and say your name, year, pronouns, and what you’re doing for the show. I’ll begin. I’m Natasha, I use she/her pronouns and —”

She was cut off by who Steve was convinced was the most beautiful man in the world walking in the room. 

“Sorry, I’m late.”

He ran his hand through his dark, shoulder-length hair to reveal piercing blue eyes and Steve wanted to die. Fuck. He was going to be so distracted by this guy the entire meeting. He was wearing one of those sweatshirt and denim jacket combinations that Steve knew he was too much of a square to even try on and a pair of black skinny jeans with rips that were sloppy enough that they must be natural. He had a five o’clock shadow and a nose ring that just seemed to emphasize how unbearably symmetrical his face was. Steve needed to text Clint, to tell someone, but he was scared of broadcasting Clint’s reply to the entire meeting on the projector. 

Tall Dark and Way Too Hot For Steve sat in the chair next to Natasha, slouching into it and pulling out a beat up legal pad. 

“Thanks for joining us, James. As I was saying, I’m Natasha, I’m a senior, I use she/her pronouns and I am the production manager.”

Steve breathed out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding in. James. James meant Not Bucky. Thank God. 

They started going around the circle and, while Steve tried desperately, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up. He managed a few: Skye, the sound designer, and Wanda the lighting designer. He wasn’t sure of the costume designer’s name but he was sure to figure it out through emails if nothing else. 

It didn’t help that he kept getting distracted by James. He was slouched in his chair, body swallowed by a denim jacket, but he kept on writing in that legal pad and Steve was itching to know what it was. 

The introductions got to him and he said, “I’m Steve, I use he/him pronouns, I’m a freshman, and I’m your set designer.”

He watched a few titters go around the room, both from upperclassmen, who were surprised or indignant about his year and from his fellow freshmen, who were suddenly slightly less content in their assistant positions. He didn’t acknowledge it, though, and was grateful when the next person started to introduce themselves. 

They inched around the circle. Most people were juniors or seniors, with most of the assistant roles being filled by freshmen. The further they got around the circle without Bucky introducing himself, the more anxious Steve got. Did he really miss the first production meeting? He’d responded to Steve’s email with the groundplan almost immediately — that didn’t seem to make sense. Eventually, they got to James and Steve had made his peace with the fact that Bucky had really skipped the meeting. 

“Hey. I’m Bucky.”

Steve’s brain seemed to short. Bucky?

“I use he/him pronouns and I’m a senior.”

Natasha elbowed him. “And you’re here why exactly?”

He laughed and it was just as beautiful as Steve thought. 

“I’m your TD.”

~~~

Bucky didn’t know what he’d been expecting Steve to look like, but the second he walked into the production meeting — only two minutes late, which was impressive considering he’d come from the engineering quad across campus — Bucky had known who Steve was. He was the only of the freshmen with his laptop out not to mention the printouts he had of the groundplan and vision board he’d sent to Bruce and Bucky. The kid looked just as green and eager as Bucky thought he would, fidgeting and honest-to-god mouthing each person’s name after they introduced themselves. 

At least this overeagerness meant that the kid would meet his due dates. Bucky had worked with way too many set designers who didn’t meet the agreed-upon schedule and then were heartbroken that Bucky wasn’t able to execute in the new, compressed time frame. Even with Steve being early for his deadline for the first groundplan, Bucky was still not sure he was going to be able to get everything done in the time he had. 

As they went around the circle making introductions, Bucky didn’t pay much attention. He knew most of the assistants’ names from gossiping about them during interviews, and those he didn’t he would soon learn during build. As they went around the circle he couldn’t help but notice Steve’s eyes darting back to him. Big and blue, they seemed to take up half his face. 

Bucky forced himself to turn back to his page, where he was doodling the set for what felt like the thousandth time. He only looked up when it was Steve’s turn. He didn’t stumble over his words as much as Bucky thought he would, but he did notice the whispers that went around the room. Bucky’s hackles raised at that. Not on Steve’s sake, but on the principle that they would doubt Natasha’s trust in Steve. Honestly, with any other production manager, Bucky probably would’ve laughed them out of the room, giving a show of this scale to a freshman. But Natasha had never let Bucky down yet. 

Eventually, the intros got to him and he said what he had to, barely able to wait for the production meeting to start in earnest. He didn’t notice the way Steve’s eyes bulged or the way his breath caught in his throat. He had already pulled his computer out of his bag and loaded up AutoCad, ready for the fight to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please warn me if i'm using too much jargon  
also i promise they'll actually talk in the next chapter (probably)
> 
> in related news i'm now no longer in tech for another month so say hello to more regular updates!!


	4. Chapter 4: And They’re Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fair warning most of this chapter is literally a meeting  
the boys just don't want to talk yet i'm so sorry

“So let’s get started. We’ll leave scenic for last if that sounds good? Okay, so auditions are in two weeks. You’ll all be getting an email about that tonight — be sure to forward it. You’ll also get an email about tabling in the student center which can be counted towards your total publicity hours for the show...

“What else? We’ll be having an audition workshop sometime next week, details will be in both emails. If for whatever reason you have free time and want to help run auditions, reach out to Sam, Bruce, or myself for that information.

“That’s all from me for right now. You’ll hear more from me about build and load-in once those things are a bit more settled. Okay, Bruce?”

“Um, hey everyone! Like Natasha said, just getting ready for auditions. It’s really exciting to have the whole staff in one room for the first time! Thank you all so much for going on this journey with me.”

Natasha nods, indulgent. “Thanks, Bruce. Sam, anything from stage management?”

“Nothing for the group other than what you already said about auditions, thanks.”

“Great. Wanda, anything from lighting?”

“We’ll get a preliminary plot once we have a semi-finalized groundplan. Once we have that we’ll start reaching out about rental packages. Bruce, could we find a time for a one-on-one design meeting sometime this week?”

“Yeah, of course! Natasha could you?”

“Making the when2meet as we speak”

“You’re a fucking godsend.”

“So, anything else from lighting?”

“No, thank you.”

“Okay then. Skye, sound. Anything for the group?”

“Same deal as lighting. Just waiting on a groundplan for a preliminary speaker plot but you can probably expect something similar to what we did for  _ Cabaret _ in terms of things that are probably going to impact lighting, but we’ll know something more concrete once we have the groundplan.”

“Wanda, do you have access to those files from  _ Cabaret _ ?”

“No, but I have a pretty good idea. We’ll figure out what’s gonna work for both of us. Thanks, though.”

“Okay, costumes. Peter?”

_ PETER  _ his name was Peter. Steve had missed it during intros. He couldn’t forget it. Peter Peter Peter. 

“I’d like to schedule fittings during the first week of rehearsal, just putting that on your radar, Sam. I can send over what times my team is available during that week.”

“Sounds good. I know Bruce talked about wanting the entire cast together for at least the first rehearsal — to start building some movement vocabulary — but I’m sure we can make it work within the week.”

“Sounds like a plan. Anything else from costumes? No? Okay. Let's move on to set.”

Steve felt like he was getting whiplash. Intros felt like they’d taken ages and then suddenly the meeting had started and he could barely follow everything that was happening. Thank god for meeting notes. But now it was his time. Fuck. It was his time. 

“Okay, one sec.”

Steve moved his mouse to wake up his computer. The projector was showing the powerpoint. He stood up awkwardly, hitting his thigh against the table. 

“So here’s the general idea for the set,” he said switching to the first slide. 

An appreciative ooh went around the room and Steve could feel his cheeks pink. 

“As you can see, the main structure of the set is this platform. The band will be on that platform, and we’ll also use that top level of the set for staging. You’ll notice that we also have this extended landing here, where the stairs turn. This gives us a sort of a mid level to use without having to make the set too tall to fit in the space. 

“The majority of the staging will be on the ground, though, so I’m sure Sam, Bruce and I will have a great time in props storage trying to find and/or purchase everything we need for that.”

There was a small chuckle from somewhere in the room. 

“You’ll also notice that there are columns in the corners of the room, much like the ones on the set. This is to help to really bring the audience into the world of the show with us.”

Steve clicked through the sketches he had drawn of the set. “Here are a couple of the research images, I’ve been referencing. If any of the other designers want to access them, there’s a folder in the scenic folder in the Drive.”

Steve saw the other designers nodding, and Natasha’s fingers flying on her keyboard. After a few seconds, she stopped, having caught up with him. 

“Thanks, Steve. Now, I imagine James has some thoughts about the set that he would like to share.”

Bucky smiled at that and Steve’s heart sank. He steeled himself for what was to come. 

~~~

In the end, it wasn’t as bad as Steve thought it would be. He had to adjust a few dimensions to match stock platforms, swear on his firstborn he wouldn’t make any changes once they started building and, most importantly, he signed on as the scenic charge. The way shows work at their school, or so he’s been told, the TD will usually paint the set, probably having one of their assistants end up serving as scenic charge and leading all of the paint calls. With the sheer amount of  _ things _ there are to be built Bucky literally wouldn’t have time to build the set. He laid it all out, and Steve couldn’t argue with it. Every single thing Bucky brought to the table, he brought it with the same cold dispassion and he was always right. Steve was starting to hate him. This wasn’t just a job, wasn’t just a thing he did on the weekends, this was how he expressed himself — this was his art. To be honest, he thought they were going to have to cut a lot more than they did, but he had done his work too, thought about what could be changed and what was essential to the design. The first time he responded with a reasonable compromise was the only time he thinks he might’ve seen Bucky’s perfect, ice-cold facade break down. His eyes widened for the briefest moment, and then he was back and more cold than ever. 

Bucky disappears right after the meeting. All of the other head staff members hang around. Most of them are friends with each other and, Steve would guess, friends with Bucky as well. But Natasha had hardly ended the meeting before Bucky was gone. Steve stayed and got to know the other designers but he kept on wondering what Bucky’s deal was. Why would he make theater if he didn’t  _ love  _ it? Why would he make theater if he didn’t love the people? And, most importantly, why did he have to be so beautiful and cold and  _ there _ ?

Steve walked home both dreading and thrumming with excitement for their next meeting. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always lmk if any of the technical things are unclear!  
thank you so much for the support for this fic so far!!


	5. Chapter 5: Don't Break the Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of the comments from the theater folks are giving me so much joy!
> 
> also, if you've been paying very close attention, you'll notice that the sound designer is now named skye not chloe  
full discosure i'm a dumbass and mixed up the actor and character names
> 
> enjoy!

Bucky somehow manages not to see Steve until the next production meeting. 

It’s not that he’s avoiding him, exactly, but he’s definitely finding it easier to hate the little shit when he doesn’t have to look at the kid’s dreams die every time they learn something else about the budget. Sound and lighting are eating up more of the scenic budget than Bucky would like and so compromises are having to be found. 

He’s not just crushing Steve’s dreams though. He took more pleasure than he should have in reminding Wanda that, yes it would be lovely to have four very expensive moving lights to accommodate the extremes of the set, but unless that number goes down to two there would be no set to build. It was an email chain for the ages. 

He’s not surprised that when he arrives for the next production meeting -- exactly on time, thank you very much -- that Steve is already at the table, his station set up, having what looks to be a very important conversation with Sam about.... something. 

Not too much has been happenning for scenic this week. Everyone’s been focused on auditions and having way too many opinions about who’s auditioning for who. Bucky knows it’ll be okay in the end. He just keeps his head down, redrafts the set and finally starts planning the lumber order. And if he offers a few dramatic email readings to Tony when they take study breaks who’s to blame him?

He might be regretting not having seen Steve the whole week before because the kid is still just as goddamn distracting as he was the week before. He didn’t think much of him until the meeting started in earnest, but he honestly thinks the kid has it all -- passion, talent, and a drive to actually work with other people. Bucky hasn’t seen a freshman like him since, well, ever. And all that would be fine if halfway through the meeting last week Steve hadn’t put a pen in his mouth to think. And then Bucky noticed his lips. And then once he noticed his lips he noticed his eyelashes. And then his eyes. And now, Bucky Barnes is officially a goner. For a freshman. Who’s almost definitely straight. Artistic, sure, but almost definitely straight. 

And anyway they’re working together. He can’t ruin it to find out. So he keeps it professional. Keeps his distance. He’s almost grateful he’s going to have to leave right after the meeting to finish his problem set before midnight if it means he won’t do anything stupid.

Bucky pulls out his computer and Natasha starts the meeting. 

“Okay, everyone, we have a busy meeting ahead of us. We’re going to start with another round of introductions. You better get used it because we’re going to have a whole cast to meet at the end of the week!”

Bucky snorts, so just Natasha can hear it. He loves how cheerful she has to force herself to be at production meetings. 

“James, why don’t you go first?”

God, he hates her. 

“I’m Bucky. I use he/him and I’m your TD.”

“Hey, Bucky, what’s a TD?”, Peter calls from across the table. 

“Technical director. I, uh build the set.”

Bucky can see some relieved faces from the freshmen around the room. They speed around the room for intros. The rehearsal team is kind of in limbo until the end of the week, when auditions start. From the emails he’s been getting, Bucky would guess the meat of this meeting is going to be Skye and Wanda going back and forth about who can get what. They shouldn’t be surprised. Turns out when the show is in a three-quarter thrust you have three times as many places to put lights and speakers. 

He says his part about planning build and the lumber order, makes sure Steve doesn’t say anything outrageous and plans to tune them out, turning back to his problem set.

They’re about to turn it over to sound and lights, when he gets a text from Natasha. It’s in a group chat with him, Bruce, and a number he doesn’t know. It must be Peter, he figures. 

_ This is going to be a madhouse _

Bucky lets the side of his mouth twitch up. God he loves production meetings with Natasha in charge. 

_ i dont think any of us are ready for it lol _

The other person “Ha, ha”-d his message. He flicks his eyes up away from his screen across the room. Peter is smiling at him. He must be right. 

The next time he tunes in, they’re flipping between Skye and Wanda’s paperwork. As he’s trying to make sense of it, he gets another message, this time from Peter. 

_ I hate to break it to literally everyone but they have a speaker and light in the same place _

Fuck.

_ hey nat the other departments get to break physics why don’t we get to break physics _

He can see her mouth twitch as the text shows up on her computer.

_ If we’re going to break physics and put multiple things center-center can I put some stuff there? _

There’s a pause and then.

_ Not for the show, just for personal things.  _

Bucky’s decided he likes Peter more than he thought. He can’t quite keep away the smile that’s creeping onto his face as he types.

_ do we get an award for breaking physics _

_ if so may i suggest enough money to pay for a moving light? _

He takes a pause. 

_ not for the show, just for personal things _

They go back and forth the whole meeting, cracking jokes about the show and generally trying their best to make Natasha break. They get close a couple times when they’re going back and forth so quickly their phones would hardly stop vibrating if they were using them. What did people do in production meetings before you could text on the computer?

When the meeting ends, Natasha gives him a death glare. 

“I’m going to kill you one day.”

“I know,” he says cheerfully. 

“Honestly I was surprised you let your guard down like that.”

“What can I say, Peter’s growing on me.”

“James, that was Steve.”

Fuck. 

He never lets himself be anything but perfectly professional with his set designers. Fuck. 

“James, it’s fine. You were just kidding around.”

He knows she’s right. But the thing he doesn’t want to admit to anyone, even himself, is he’s officially a goner for Steve Rogers. 

Build is going to be hell. 


	6. Chapter 6: You Could Drive a Person Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company

Steve isn’t sure what exactly happened during the last production meeting. He and Bucky had been joking -- dare he say flirting?? -- but then Bucky had still run out right away without so much of a glance towards Steve. 

It seemed like things were better between them. Bucky was  _ finally _ warming up to him. But then it was like nothing changed. Steve is tempted to text him but he doesn’t want to undo whatever progress they might’ve made during the meeting. 

He’s sitting in bed, trying to slog through the latest of his civil engineering problem sets when his phone buzzes. He doesn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t for the name Bucky Barnes to be on his screen. 

He opens his phone and sees the message. 

_how to lead_ _build workshop friday 7-9_

He barely has time to parse the sentence when another text comes in.

_ works for you? _

Of course it’s just a show thing. Why would it be anything more?

_ Yeah! I’ll be there _

~~~

Friday comes sooner than Bucky expects. He’s done everything he has to to prepare. He’s made up packets, posted new signage and rules and, with the help of a few of the other on-campus TDs, organized the shop. And he’s tried not to think about Steve too much. One of those things didn’t go well. He hasn’t texted him, but he’s typed out more messages than he can count, only to delete them. 

Bucky gets to the shop at around 6:45 to unlock and make sure he’s ready. Despite the fact that he’s entirely expecting it, he doesn’t know what to do when Steve arrives only a few minutes after him. 

The kid walks into the shop, cheeks flushed from the cold and Bucky damn near forgets how to speak. 

“Uh, hey. You can put your stuff over here.”

He gestures to the table near the door where he likes to store his computer during build. Steve puts his bag down and starts wandering around the shop. 

And suddenly Bucky has nothing else to say. This doesn’t happen to him. He’s mastered the art of being charming, knows how to win over anyone he wants to. Most of the time he doesn’t want to, but that doesn’t mean he can’t turn it on if he wants. 

Steve is gazing up at the walls, at all the random shit that’s been saved there over the years. It’s Bucky’s favorite part of any scene shop, the story that gets told on the walls. He was more proud than he wants to admit when he was able to put something on the walls at the end of his sophomore year, the innards of a piano they gutted for a show. It looks beautiful and mysterious and fits right in with the hodgepodge of things that have been put up there over the years, posters from shows, the world’s worst paper mache cow, and a giant penny from when some poor theater group did  _ Cats _ . 

Steve is looking around with a sense of wonder on his face and Bucky can’t look away. The small smile tugging at the corners of Steve’s mouth makes him want to tell the kid every story he knows about these things. 

Instead, he forces himself to continue unlocking the space, busying himself with that until, blissfully, one of his assistants arrives. 

Pietro is Wanda the lighting designer’s younger brother, and is always going at a mile a minute. His rapidfire conversation soon fills the shop and Bucky starts forgetting his anxieties as he answers the freshman’s eager questions. It’s hard to believe that he and Steve are the same age. Steve seems so much more settled and confident in himself. Throughout the tour, he asks smart questions, obviously clarifying differences from other shops he’s worked in before. 

Bucky has always prided himself on keeping a distance with people he’s supposed to have authority over. It works, the invisible barrier he creates and the competence he has learned how to display have created great working relationships with set designers. But they’ve never become friendships before. He’s never wanted them to. It’s easier if everything stays separate like that. Less messy. 

But now there’s Steve with his hair that flops in his face as he’s taking  _ actual notes _ as Bucky outlines how he likes to run his build sessions. And Bucky wants nothing more than to push that hair out of his eyes and do whatever he can to make him laugh. But instead all he can do is be unbelievably awkward. Great. 

Honestly, it’s probably helping erase whatever friendliness Steve had thought was between them after the last production meeting but it doesn’t change the fact that Bucky wants to know Steve, really  _ know  _ him, and he knows he can’t let that happen. Not now. 

So instead he keeps things professional, answering the questions, but no responding with stories or questions of his own. And it’s all fine until he’s sharing them all on the build calendar he drew up and Steve points out that he’s not on the schedule for the first half. 

“I, uh, only scheduled you when we have painting.”

“I can help with everything. I don’t mind.”

“Uh, sure,” Bucky is sure his tune will change once the semester gets into full swing. “Y’know, just come whenever you want to.”

Steve smiles at him, teeth white, and Bucky almost forgets how to speak. 

“That goes for all of you, but what’s my motto?”

“We’re all students first,” Dum Dum echoes back dutifully, having worked for Bucky before.

“So that means even if you’re scheduled, even if you’re supposed to be leading the goddamn build, you have to be a student first. This is not an excuse to manage your time poorly. This is not a get out of jail free card. But sometimes things just can’t happen and it’s your job to realize that and let me know. 

“The other part of us all being students is that we are all here to learn. We are all here to learn about how to do our jobs, we are here to learn how to work with people. We are here to learn how to create art. Your crews are here to learn to build. I don’t care if they walk in knowing nothing, but if there’s anyone who walks out of a build session without learning something, I’ll consider that day a failure. Understand?”

~~~

Steve Rogers officially does not understand Bucky Barnes. The entire build workshop he’s been professional to the point of coldness, making Steve wonder who he had been joking with the week before. 

But this, this guy who would jump out of a train to save his team. That’s the guy he saw. It just feels like Bucky hates him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're back!! sorry it took me like 4 tries to figure out where this chapter was going lol

**Author's Note:**

> As the end is starting to be in sight for The Stars Aint Crossed (https://archiveofourown.org/works/11679876) I decided to start a new theater AU! I'm about to be a person who works in theater professionally so this will probably be a) slow going and b) painfully accurate. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
